Andy Ruiz Jr believes former rival Anthony Joshua can exact his revenge on Oleksandr Usyk.
Joshua will take on Usyk this summer in a second meeting on August 20 in Saudi Arabia, after the Ukrainian snatched his unified titles from him last September. It will be the second time in Joshua's career he will need to rally after a defeat, having been stopped by Ruiz Jr in June 2019 on his American debut.
Joshua was stunned by the Mexican, who was a huge underdog going into the fight, but managed to overturn the loss to claim back his titles. Despite predicting Joshua could once again bounce back, Ruiz Jr has also suggested it could come down to who is more hungry for victory. “I think he [Joshua] can, you know," Ruiz Jr told FightHub TV when predicting the second battle between Joshua and Usyk. "In the heavyweight division, anything could happen.
"It only takes one punch to change the fight. So, it’s all up to the one that’s more hungry. You know, Anthony Joshua goes down and he comes back up or he loses, and then he fights again to win. I don’t... Usyk is a hard guy too. You know, his style. He throws combinations. Hopefully if I win on September 4 against Luis Ortiz, if Wilder doesn't win then we could look for Usyk if he wins."
Ruiz Jr's aggressive and combative style proved too much for Joshua in his short-notice title challenge, but Joshua was able to put in a more conservative display to overturn the defeat. This time it will likely be the complete reverse approach for Joshua who was criticised for trying to outbox the Ukrainian.
Joshua has since ditched long-term coach Rob McCracken and began working with Angel Fernandez who was promoted to the role after the defeat. The British heavyweight has now also added Robert Garcia to his corner team, who has trained 14 world champions during his own career in America.
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It is expected Joshua will adopt a more aggressive approach for the second showdown in Jeddah, with victory setting up a potential undisputed title clash with Tyson Fury. Joshua's new trainer Garcia believes the biggest factor that Joshua will need to overcome is his mindset to regain his crown.
“When you see a fighter there are four or five different qualities that you need to be a champion and a fighter can be a champion if he only has two of them," Garcia said. Power, great dedication to the sport, also another key thing you have to have skills, heart and mindset. These are the little things that we need to work on.
"After the last fight that defeat may have affected his mindset and may have made him not believe in himself. That is the one thing we are needing to work on most. He has everything physically in his favour including reach and height."
